Insulating concrete forms are known, and provide advantages in the construction of homes and other buildings. In a typical insulating concrete form system, forming units include panels of an insulating material, such as expanded polystyrene, held in spaced-apart relation by tying members. The forming units are stacked, and form a cavity between the panels into which concrete is poured. Once the concrete has hardened, the insulating panels are left in place, and contribute to the insulating value of the resulting wall.
In some systems, the ends of the tying members are embedded in the foam panels, so that the forming units are pre-assembled. This arrangement has the disadvantage that the forming units require substantial space during shipping, as each unit includes the empty airspace between the panels.
In other systems, called “knock down” or “assemble-on-site” systems, each panel includes embedded web members that pivot to flatten the forms or that include attachment points for separate ties. In the latter forms, the panels and ties can be shipped separately, and the ties are connected at the building site to the attachment points, thereby spacing the panels with the cavity between them. The form system is built up in this way, and then concrete is poured into the wall cavity. This kind of system results in lower shipping cost, because the separate panels can be stacked more compactly for shipping.